1. Technical Field
The present device is an unpowered body wrap containing phase change material with a melting point of between about xe2x88x9210 and 6 degrees Centigrade, the phase change material being distributed in a gel or viscous fluid carrier, for quick, thorough cooling of a portion of the body in the event of a stroke, heart attack, or other emergency medical condition.
2. Background Information
Rapid response is vital in the emergency treatment of strokes and heart attacks. Medical experts are finding that immediately inducing a state of hypothermia in stroke victims, for example, along with administering certain intravenous medications, ameliorates damage from a stroke. Many of the adverse effects of a stroke occur within the first few hours of the actual stroke, which is caused by blockage of a blood vessel by a blood clot. In the hypothermic state, the stroke victim""s metabolic rate is reduced, which in turn reduces the adverse after-effects of the stroke, and even cheats death in some cases. To be effective, hypothermia should be induced as rapidly as possible. Quick treatment is imperative. The adverse effects of stroke include impaired motion on one side of the body, short-term memory loss, slurred speech, confusion, etc. Strokes occur spontaneously in teens and adults of any age, although they occur more frequently in older people. It is a leading cause of long-term disability and death in Americans over age 45. Rapidly reducing body temperature is also known to be helpful in treating heart attacks, head injuries, and limb amputations, and may prove to be helpful for treating other types of injuries. Cardiovascular disease is the most significant health problem in the United States today, afflicting roughly one quarter of adult Americans. If rapid body temperature reduction can be done safely by emergency personnel in the field, more patients can be saved and/or have an improved prognosis.
There is a need for an inexpensive, easy to use, portable device which can be used in the field and elsewhere to quickly drop body temperature. Ice packs rapidly lower body temperature, but they are difficult to keep in place on a patient, particularly one who is being jostled in a moving ambulance. One ice pack only covers a small area of the body. Also, most frozen ice packs do not conform easily to the shape of the body part.
The present invention is an unpowered, portable, quick cooling body wrap that can be cooled in a freezer or by any other suitable means of cooling, optionally stored in a cooler, and then quickly wrapped around the torso or other affected body part of the patient to rapidly reduce core body temperature. The body wrap of the present invention is lightweight, inexpensive, and easily conforms to the shape of the body. It can be stored in a cooler in an ambulance, for example, and used in the field. The body wrap, or xe2x80x9ccocoonxe2x80x9d, stays cool for a sustained period. It retains its cooling effect long enough to be stored in a cooler, and/or to reduce and maintain the low body temperature during the ambulance ride to the hospital, for example. It is flexible and easy to use, and even an untrained person, such as a patient""s spouse or a nursing home aide, can wrap it around an injured person, once they are directed to do so by a medically trained person.
Cooling of the skin is accomplished in the present invention by means of an envelope containing specific phase change materials (PCMs) distributed in a gel or viscous fluid carrier. The use of phase change materials also ensures that the cold temperatures are delivered to the skin in a precisely selected temperature range that has been found to induce hypothermia. That selected temperature range is the phase change temperature, or melting point of the phase change material.
The present invention provides a body wrap for rapidly cooling a part of the body, including:
(a) phase change material having a melting point of between about xe2x88x9210 and 6 degrees Centigrade;
(b) a gel or viscous fluid carrier in which the phase change material is substantially evenly distributed;
(c) a fluid-impermeable, conformable envelope surrounding the phase change material and the carrier;
(d) fastener means for removably fastening the body wrap around the body part; and
(e) at least one layer of insulation adjacent to the envelope.
The invention also includes a cooling body wrap for rapidly inducing hypothermia in a human body, comprising:
(a) a fluid-impermeable, flexible, conformable envelope;
(b) a mixture of from about 20 to about 90 weight % of alkanes having a carbon chain length of between 10 and 14, and from about 10 to about 80 weight % of a gel or viscous fluid carrier in which the alkanes are substantially evenly distributed, the mixture being sealed within the envelope;
(c) at least one layer of insulation adjacent to a first side of the envelope; and
(d) fastening means for fastening the body wrap around a part of the body. A preferred fifth element is a heat tube layer adjacent to an opposite, second side of the envelope, the heat tube layer being comprised of a plurality of heat tubes connected to one another.